Numbers and Shoes
by Fox Dreams
Summary: Harry sits waiting for Aunt Petunia to pick him up from school while doing his homework and wondering about why he wears different shoes. Finished.


Numbers and Shoes

By: Fox Dreams

Written September 4, 2005

I do not own Harry Potter.

His shoes did not fit. They were not too long, but were too wide. Ment for another boy, they always flopped about as he walked. Twice during the day he had fallen over. Once because of the shoes, and once because of the boy whose feet belonged in those duck shoes.

Dudley was not very tall, but he did have duck feet. Harry sat down on the bench by the bus stop and contemplated his feet, swinging them back and forth, every once in a while tapping the left one on the ground. They were very small. Actually everything about Harry seemed to be smaller than his cousin. His feet, his hands, arms, legs, even Harry's stomach. That was why Dudley got seconds and thirds at every meal. In fact the only thing he did seem to have that was larger than his cousin's was his hair. It was a big mess, at least that is what Aunt Petunia called it.

Harry looked up as another white car drove by. That made five white cars since the school bell rang. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. In class, they were studying numbers and the teacher, a nice woman with frizzy brown hair had told them to count ten different things for homework. So far Harry had counted the nine trees in the school yard, seven school buses in the parking lot to his left and his fingers. He had ten fingers, just like he had ten toes on his two feet that were too small for his shoes.

Even if his shoes were too big, Harry decided they were alright as shoes went. They were a cool red color, and when you walked the lights on the sides of the left shoe would light up. The right shoe was broken and would not light up, but that was ok, the left one still worked.

None of the other kids had light up shoes but him and Dudley. Harry looked over at the boy with floppy hair eatting a rollup on the bench next to him. Dudley did not seem to like his shoes though. He was not wearing them today. He was wearing the same black and white tennies that his friend Dennis was wearing next to him.

Harry counted another white car go by, this one stopped and a little girl with big teeth named Julia got in. That made seven, no six white cars. Dudley was not counting things like the teacher had said to. Dudley never wanted to do what the teacher said to. He only liked to do what the other kids were doing. Like wearing tennies instead of red light ups.

The red light up shoes were nice, especially the left one, but Harry wished that he could wear the black and white tennies like the other kids. Dennis's shoes were smaller than Harry's. They would never fit Dudley. Maybe he only had four toes on each foot and that was why he got smaller shoes. Small shoes that let Dennis run faster than all the other kids. Ones that made him the best in their year at football. Yes, tennies would be nice.

"Dudley, Harry!"

Harry looked up to see his aunt standing next to white car number seven. She was wearing a frown as she looked over the kids on the benches next to the school buses. Her frown did not go away until she looked to the right of him, where she must have seen Dudley.

Aunt Petunia did not like to wait, so Harry quickly ran over to the car. She "had a lot to do and no time in which to do it". Dudley never seemed to remember that, but unlike with Harry that did not seem to matter. He walked over slowly with his friend Dennis, who was dragging his tennies on the ground.

"Mum, can Dennis come over?"

"I would have to talk to his mother first sweetums."

Dudley turned red in embaressment. Harry had to count to ten to stop from laughing. It looked like Dennis was too, his cheeks were turning pink and he had his chin tucked in as he looked at the ground. Sweetums was not a name kids liked to hear in front of their friends.

Dennis looked up catching Harry's glance. For a moment, Dennis seemed to be trying not to laugh with Harry, but then Dennis saw the red light ups on his feet and he looked back at Dudley.

"Come on sweetums we have company tonight, and we have to get home so mummy can make a special dinner."

Harry sat down next to Dudley in the back seat of the white car. His feet felt warm. On the other side of the window the other kids being picked up by their parents were wearing black and white tennies, brown school shoes, or white and blue sandals. No one was wearing red light ups. No one was wearing duck shoes that flopped when they walked.

"They don't fit."

"What was that Harry?"

He looked up to see Aunt Petunia looking back at him from the front seat with her keys in one hand and a frown on her face. The red light ups, even the left one did not seem very nice anymore. Taking a deep breath, Harry counted to three.

"Can I have tennies?"

"No, your shoes work fine."

His shoes did not fit. They were not too long, but were too wide. They did not fit him, but many things did not seem to fit him. He was too small. His feet, his hands, arms, legs, even his stomach was too small. Only his hair was not, and that was a big mess.

Another white car drove by, six, no seven,... Harry could not remember the number for that car. His shoes did not fit.

Author: I was not feeling very depressed when I wrote this, but I do think it came out very sad. This just came to me while I was sitting at my computer when I thought about what it would have been like for Harry in elementry school. I tried to write this from the point of view of a kindergardner, and I think, hope I managed it.


End file.
